Last night, Bill Maher closed the show by ripping into the anti-intellectuals in the GOP who actually have advanced scientific degrees. (Video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zbXdUFi_3A)
And finally, New Rule: now that it's summertime, everyone has to turn off all the gadgets and read a nice piece of pure fiction. Might I suggest Proof of Heaven — a neurosurgeon's journey into the afterlife? I recommend this one because of the three books currently on the bestseller list that are about the joy of being dead and coming back — four if you count The Zombie Survival Guide — I like Proof of Heaven best because Waking Up in Heaven is by a teacher, and Heaven Is for Real is by a 6-year-old, but Proof of Heaven is by a neurosurgeon who thinks like a 6-year-old.Now I bring this up because there is a phenomenon happening lately that's really bugging me, and it's the resurgence of the smart stupid person. Now the smart stupid person is not new; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a smart stupid person. He was a surgeon, and he created Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. So he was not only smart, he was way ahead of his time on gay marriage. But he also believed in fairies. The other kind. (shakes head at Dan Savage)Dr. William Mackenzie King was a smart stupid person, and he was the prime minister of Canada for 22 years, and held 5 degrees. And he believed he could speak to the spirits of his two dead Irish terriers, which is why Canada was always declaring war on squirrels.Which brings me back to the Proof of Heaven book and its author, Dr. Eben Alexander, and the question of how a neurosurgeon, of all people, could say he made a day trip to heaven while in a coma, when his scientific training, not to mention every other scientist in the world, is telling him, no dude, you were just tripping. Those coma drugs are some good shit! Well, that's the scientific explanation.(abrupt playing of closing music for the show)You heard that, right? I didn't just.... (wild audience laughter and applause)For a minute, I thought I was tripping.CONNIE MACK: It came from heaven.That's right, that was God, right.Here's what Dr. Alexander said. He said:DR. EBEN ALEXANDER: I was a speck on a beautiful butterfly wing; millions of other butterflies around us. We were flying through... indescribable colors... arcs of silver and gold light.OK, that's not heaven, that's a Lunesta commercial. (audience laughter and applause) Hey doc, come by the show sometime, I'll give you some bad acid, you can visit hell.And yet, somehow Dr. Alexander isn't even the only brilliant brain surgeon who's also a drooling idiot. Dr. Ben Carson is the director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins, and the first doctor to separate conjoined twins at the head. And he believes the earth is 6,000 years old. And that homosexuality is akin to bestiality. And the Bible calls for a flat tax. (audience laughter) He's half brilliant brain surgeon, half Tea Party dumbass. He doesn't just operate on conjoined twins, he is one.He's also someone who many Republicans are encouraging to run for President in 2016. And why not? There's no more attractive figure in the Republican Party these days than an anti-intellectual with an advanced degree. People like Antonin Scalia, Ted Cruz, and Bobby Jindal, who are accomplished scholars on the outside, and on the inside, a creamy layer of Michele Bachmann. (wild audience laughter and applause)And what's with all the know-nothing doctors? People like Scott DesJarlais, and Paul Broun, and Tom Coburn, and their subspeciality — OBGYNs who know nothing about reproduction! Like Congressman/OBGYN Ron Paul, who said abortion leads to euthanasia. Or Congressman/OBGYN Michael Burgess, the guy who just last month said fetuses masturbate in the womb. Wearing tiny raincoats. (audience laughter) Or Congressman/OBGYN Phil Gingrey, who when Todd Akin introduced America to the concept of "legitimate rape" — Remember that? When a woman is assaulted by a licensed, bonded, and fully insured rapist — backed him up and said aww, all that adrenaline can cause you not to ovulate. Well, forget for a moment that's wholly untrue, let's ask the more important question: Why are we electing so many gynecologists to Congress? (audience applause)If having your head between a woman's legs is a qualification for public office, then why not Congressman Michael Douglas?